Adelaide O'Keeffe was first heard of by name in 1804 as a writer of highly successful verse for children; she had already in all probability edited her father's dramatic works. She went on to do distinguished and unusual work of her own as novelist, writer of biblical paraphrase, and author of instructive works (particularly on history and geography), as well as editing her father's plays.

September 1796 AOK wrote the dedication, in a "poetical address", of her novel Llewellin: A Tale to the eight-month-old Princess Charlotte (after which the novel took another three years to get published).

By 4 March 1854 AOK published a historical novel, The Broken Sword, which seems to be her final work.